FTC Ends Probe of Google StreetView Privacy Breach

GovTechGuy writes "The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wrote to Google on Wednesday to end its probe into a major privacy breach in which the company collected and stored private user information, such as passwords and entire e-mails, without even realizing it after the search giant promised to improve its privacy practices."

Re:Whoops!

[Monkeedude1212]

It's hard for there to be a penalty for something that isn't against the law.

Re:to date

[VGPowerlord]

i have yet to see any corporation with a major internet presence or market segment come close to following or guaranteeing their privacy policies with complete certitude.

Google's Privacy Policy has nothing to do with this, unless you're implying that Google got everyone in major rural areas to somehow agree to said policy before Google drove out in their Streetview cars.

Re:Microsoft and Google

[ozzee]

You are flaming, right? Let me give you the benefit of the doubt. Let's compare the two.

• Google fesses up to it's mistake, Microsoft fights. If it was not for Google owning up to the error, no-one would have known, while Microsoft tried hard to keep quiet comments like "Knife the Baby" [e44.us].
• Google made no financial advantage from this while Microsoft made a whole business by killing competitors using it's monopoly advantage.
• Google did not intend to breach privacy laws, Microsoft knew and were warned on previous occasions that they were to stop the practice.
• It's not really clear that Google really breached the law, the information they collected was in the clear, i.e. if you go yelling you account numbers and passwords from the rooftops and someone with taking a family video records inadvertently, I suggest that it's hard to prove that the cameraman is at fault. Microsoft was found guilty and convicted of its crime.

... just to point out a few, I can go on if you like.

I think it's important to compare like cases if you don't want to be marked a troll.

Re:I'm sure that...

[wolrahnaes]

Or that there's no reason for a probe to ever have been started. They gathered data from open radio transmitters. There is absolutely ZERO privacy expectation for anything transmitted on open protocols in the clear, so I say tough shit to anyone whose "private" data was captured.

If I strap a tape deck to my radio scanner and drive around recording whatever comes across am I violating the privacy of people who I pick up? Hell no. So why is it such a big deal for Google to do exactly the same with digital data rather than analog voice?

It's already been stated that the reason the data was captured is that Google chose to do things "The Unix Way" and basically strap together a few common apps in their cars, including a packet capture tool. This makes sense since Wireshark (and assumedly all other software that relies on libpcap) can record signal strength with every packet received. Run that constantly and have something logging your GPS position regularly enough, then you can just feed the data in to a processing tool after the fact to go through and create a rough map of what WiFi BSSIDs are where (which is exactly what the data was gathered for, iPhones and Android phones among others can use the WiFi devices they see to get their location).

There's no logical reason they should even have to change what they're doing, but since the majority of the world seems to not understand that they may as well be yelling their personal data in to a CB mic if they send it over unencrypted WiFi, they're changing their toolset anyways to please the public. As such, since there wasn't a problem in the first place and the activity people bitch about is stopping, there's no reason the FTC needs to do a damn thing. There are plenty of other real problems out there for them to deal with.

Re:Still being Sued by Canada

[wolrahnaes]

FUCK. It's not like entering someone's home, it's like turning to the same channel they're talking on on a CB. THEY ARE BROADCASTING IN THE CLEAR. THEY HAVE NO FUCKING PRIVACY!